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The Allied Health Professions Council (AHPC) will this month begin the inspection of all public and private health facilities in the country.

The Registrar of the council, Dr Samuel Yaw Opoku, who announced this, said the exercise would be used to inspect the qualifications and licences of health professionals and health facilities that were under the jurisdiction of the AHPC to eliminate quacks.

“There are a lot of unauthorised bodies operating in our communities which do not have any qualification or licence to operate,” he added.

Mr Opoku disclosed this to the Daily Graphic at the inauguration of 17 sub-committees of the board of governors of the council last week.

The subcommittees are made up of five representatives from each of the 17 professions under the AHPC. The committees will serve as an advisory and mediatory body between the board of governors of the council and the health professionals.

The exercise

Mr Opoku explained that the inspection exercise would continue throughout the first quarter of this year.

“In our market squares and stations, people have put up tents and are offering eye care to people without qualification.

We are ready to put a stop to that,” he added.

Mr Opoku said “the inspection has become necessary due to an increase in the number of quacks and unauthorised facilities that have emerged in our country, dispensing care to innocent people.”

He stated that the inspection would cover all the 17 professions under the AHPC.

The 17 professions are audiology, dental health, dietetics, disease control, environmental health, health information and record management, health promotion, medical laboratory science, medical physics, medical radiation technology, mental health, nutrition, occupational therapy, optometry, physiotherapy, prosthetics orthotics and speech delivery.

Advice

The Chairman of the governing board of the AHPC, Professor Augustine Kwame Kyere, administered the oath of allegiance to the members.

With one hand raised and the other placed on their chests, the 140 new members openly chorused their oaths after Prof. Kyere.

The chairman of the council’s board urged the newly elected committee members to embrace their new work assiduously and brace themselves up for more work as the council sought to instil absolute professionalism in the allied health sector.

“Your work starts from today. Go back, get your people together and let’s start talking and taking decisions to eliminate quacks from our industry,” Prof. Kyere reiterated.